Joe Biden 'falsely claimed' Covid-19 took more lives 'than WWI, WWII, Vietnam and 9/11 combined', show stats
President Joe Biden made his first national address on Thursday (March 11) night and the speech has come under the scanner for certain claims that were reportedly not true. For example, the 78-year-old said Covid-19 pandemic has claimed more American lives “than World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and 9/11 combined”. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US has seen 529,301 deaths caused by the deadly virus which is much less than the number of Americans who lost their lives in the major events mentioned by the president.
Biden said in his speech: “I carry a card in my pocket with the number of Americans who have died from COVID to date... As of now, the total number of deaths in America: 527,726. That's more deaths than in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and 9/11 combined.”
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However, the Department of Veteran Affairs, one of the two main resources that total American deaths in times of conflict, said a total of 392,393 deaths were recorded for the three conflicts: World War I (53,402), World War II (291,557) and Vietnam War (47,434). In the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, a total of 2,977 people got killed and that brings the total casualties to 395,370. Newsweek said in a report that if one adds the military service deaths that happened outside the combat, the death toll exceeded 600,000, going higher than the coronavirus death tally. “That larger number is because the Veterans Affairs department data lists an additional 32,000 deaths that were in-service but not in-theatre for the Vietnam War,” it said.
The Congressional Research Service data, on the other hand, said that the service deaths for the three wars combined reached 580,135. If one adds the 9/11 death toll with it, the number goes up to 583,112 which is more than the deaths caused by Covid-19.
Biden goofed up numbers earlier as well
This is not the first time that Biden has goofed up numbers in the public. In February last year, Biden, who was then a presidential candidate, claimed in the final Democratic primary debate that 150 million Americans have been killed in gun violence. Later, his campaign conceded that it was a mistake and the actual number was around 150,000. Again in June, Biden said at a campaign event that 120 million people died from Covid-19 while at that time, the number was only 119,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. Biden corrected himself after making the “120 million” claim.
The White House also chipped in after Biden’s latest gaffe on the Covid-19 death casualties. After fact-checking, a White House spokesperson told The Washington Post that the president was referring to the in-combat deaths though he was not seen making a specific mention of that point during his address on Thursday.
Last month, Biden led the US to observe a moment of silence as the coronavirus death toll in the country crossed 500,000 and appealed to Americans to fight the pandemic together by setting aside partisan differences. “Today we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone - 500,071 dead. That's more Americans who have died in one year in this pandemic than in World War One, World War Two and the Vietnam War combined,” the president said in emotional remarks at the White House. The president also ordered all flags on federal property to be lowered to half-mast.
Biden's claim on Trump administration's vaccine order contested
In his 24-minute speech that Biden gave on the occasion of the first anniversary of the coronavirus lockdowns, he praised his administration’s vaccine rollout and came up with debatable claims about the timeliness of the previous Donald Trump administration in response to the pandemic and the number of vaccines it had ordered. Biden said: “We’re actually on track to reach this goal of 100 million shots in arms on my 60th day in office. No other country in the world has done this. None.” While it is true that no other nation has vaccinated as many people as the US has done, there are countries that have inoculated more people per capita. The US has administered vaccines to 101 million people so far.
The Democrat said Americans did not have enough vaccine supply a couple of months ago but the scenario was set to change soon. But this claim of the president was contested since, by the end of last year, the Trump administration had ordered at least 800 million doses that were expected to be provided by the end of July this year, the Government Accountability Office said.